Sasol fire under investigation

It was around 7:05 Thursday morning when a fire broke out at the Sasol plant in Westlake. One witness reported seeing flames 200 feet high coming out of Sasol's Normal Paraffin Unit. Sasol Complex Manager Pat Brown says no one was injured and the fire posed no threat to the community. It was extinguished within 35 minutes. Brown says, "The material that we make here is not toxic or a hazardous type of material. We believe we contained it very well on site and for the community there really was no concern."

As a precaution, Sasol employees were told to shelter in place. Just across the street at the ConocoPhillips plant, several hundred employees there did the same thing. Carol Collins with ConocoPhillips says, "It was a large fire and there was smoke, so just to be safe we did issue a shelter in place for our employees. But from everything we understand, there was nothing in the air to cause any concern, so the shelter in place was lifted about 45 minutes after it was issued."

The shelter in place at Sasol was lifted after an hour and a half, and clean up got underway. Brown says, "Material, of course, came out of the pipes and burned. A majority of it burned right at the site and the operators and people were right on top of containing it, keeping everything on site. So we feel like we had a really good response." Now an investigation in underway to clear up the mystery of what set off the fire.

The unit that caught on fire is used to extract paraffins from kerosene. Paraffins are used in cleaners, printing ink, pesticides and charcoal lighter fluid.

At least 1,124 residents are without power from Pujol Road all the way to Moeling Street near La. 171 according to the Entergy Map. According to Entergy, a serviceman is working to determine the cause of the outage. Power will be restored as soon as possible. Entergy estimates power will be restored by 2:30 p.m. Traffic lights may be affected. Copyright 2018 KPLC. All rights reserved. More >>

At least 1,124 residents are without power from Pujol Road all the way to Moeling Street near La. 171 according to the Entergy Map. According to Entergy, a serviceman is working to determine the cause of the outage. Power will be restored as soon as possible. Entergy estimates power will be restored by 2:30 p.m. Traffic lights may be affected. Copyright 2018 KPLC. All rights reserved. More >>

KATC is reporting that one is dead in a forklift accident at a Proctor & Gamble plant in Pineville. The investigation is still in its early stages, but a Proctor & Gamble spokesperson provided the following statement to KATC. "We are deeply saddened to confirm that a member of the P&G Product Supply Family passed away at our Alexandria manufacturing facility in a tragic accident during the early morning hours of May 24, 2018. The safety of our employees is a...

KATC is reporting that one is dead in a forklift accident at a Proctor & Gamble plant in Pineville. The investigation is still in its early stages, but a Proctor & Gamble spokesperson provided the following statement to KATC. "We are deeply saddened to confirm that a member of the P&G Product Supply Family passed away at our Alexandria manufacturing facility in a tragic accident during the early morning hours of May 24, 2018. The safety of our employees is a...

Johnnie Hardman has been found guilty of first-degree murder, armed robbery with a firearm, and two counts of conspiracy to commit armed robbery for the July 2017 murder of Joshua Touchet. The verdict was reached by the jury after 43 minutes of deliberation. Theresa Schmidt was in the courtroom. To see all of her coverage of the trial, view her Twitter feed below. Tweets by KplcTschmidt

Johnnie Hardman has been found guilty of first-degree murder, armed robbery with a firearm, and two counts of conspiracy to commit armed robbery for the July 2017 murder of Joshua Touchet. The verdict was reached by the jury after 43 minutes of deliberation. Theresa Schmidt was in the courtroom. To see all of her coverage of the trial, view her Twitter feed below. Tweets by KplcTschmidt

For the rest of the day, there will be more storms and showers that pop up in the afternoon. This is the new normal with the heat during the afternoon, and the extra moisture in the air. The good news for today is that there are a lot more clouds today, and that is keeping the temperature down a few degrees. That should help limit any storms this afternoon. So we will still likely see some develop, but not as many. Tonight, any rain we see should come to an end.

For the rest of the day, there will be more storms and showers that pop up in the afternoon. This is the new normal with the heat during the afternoon, and the extra moisture in the air. The good news for today is that there are a lot more clouds today, and that is keeping the temperature down a few degrees. That should help limit any storms this afternoon. So we will still likely see some develop, but not as many. Tonight, any rain we see should come to an end.